Maiden Voyage of the S.S. Minnow

We took the new RV out for a spin this week at Tyler State Park. We like to go big, so a couple of days after we got it, we headed out for a week long trip.

I did discover that my children are half monkey on this trip, so it was pretty fruitful.

The kiddos were in heaven all week. Life at this age is all about mischief and dirt, and they had their fair share of both.

They were a big hit with the retirees in the park. Scarlett asked every single person if she could pet their dog.

Our first day we went to the Discovery Science Place. The news told us that we should expect a day of rain, so we planned an indoor activity. No rain. Still loads of fun. The entire place is a giant, hands on, kid geared playground. They ran around like complete lunatics for hours.

This gal ran right through her socks. RIP socks.

The next day we spent at the state park. We hit the playground, we rented a paddle boat, we swam.

You can’t see it here, because of the life vests, but our children have energizer batteries implanted in their backs. The never run out of energy.

We caught some whoppers at the park.

Now that’s good eatin’! I’m kidding, we didn’t eat those tiny baby fish. But it was fun catching them. I fed the fish about 1,000 worms to catch these fish. It was worth it.

Instead of baby fish, we ate ice cream. Every.Single.Day. You need to eat ice cream every day sometimes. Here, you will see a 50 lb, 7 year old boy, devouring an entire banana split in about five minutes. How does this child eat this much food you ask? I have no idea. Science can’t explain it. I am certain he is an alien.

The last day, we hit up the strangest place. Brookshire’s has a free museum in Tyler. It has rooms full of dead animals, an old time general store, a gift store, and an enormous covered playground.

It was overkill with the dead stuff really. I mean, while it was neat… it was also strangely sad. It wasn’t like these were statues, they were actual animals and there were a LOT of them from majestic bison and terrifying polar bears, down to tiny fawns, songbirds, and skunks. It was a pretty complete collection of taxidermy. Not for the faint of heart.

The playground was super cool though and the store inside was filled with old school candy. We bought, and ate, a lot of it.

There was a little of this, too. But, it rained the first day, so what else could we do? Plus, tablets = quiet, and I’m not gonna lie… we like some quiet every once and awhile.

We are home now. I super enjoyed my looonnngg, hot shower where the water just ran the entire time. I am also thoroughly enjoying my nice, huge, soft bed. How do you make an RV bed comfortable, people? Tell me your secrets. Ours seeks out my bones and then drills imaginary screws into them all night. I mean, no it doesn’t but it is still seriously uncomfy. Also, it had ants in it, and I have no clue why, but that is another issue by itself.

Things we learned on this trip.

Take bug killer.

Don’t store an unsealed container of donuts under the dinette. (These lessons were learned together)

Cool the fridge down the day before you head out. RV fridges do not equal home fridges. They take 24 hours to cool down. Oops.

And with this lesson, I learned that my ideas of food safety may be a little strict. I was all but ready to toss all of our food, but I was too lazy to go shopping for more, so we ate it, and no one died… not even a little bit. Yay!

So… we are all booked for a month long trip in July. Are we crazy? I’ve asked this question before, and it is still the same answer… maybe!

Do we care? No.

I love the simplicity of life in the RV. A lady I talked to at the playground laughed and told us that RV stood for Ruined Vacation. I definitely disagree with that statement! The only thing that ruined our vaca was the fact that it ended!

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